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Voice Over IP....where to begin research?

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Our corporate office is having long distance bills in excess of $1200 a month calling our 35+ remote retail locations. We have a T1 running in for internet access and some light email & web hosting that I could get away with using only half of the bandwith of.

I was hoping that some of the guru's here in the networking forum could give a fellow member a few links or books on where to start researching this vast area of technology. I've done some light looking and have seen that there are various protocols and and a whole handful of ways that you can actually implement and use the system.

At this point, I'm trying to find out if it's cost effective to consider putting in a VoiP system - so I'd have to look at the various platforms/systems available and see what up front and reoccuring costs are. At this point, I have 5 lines and about 20 corporate users sharing those lines for outbound calls.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some VoIP resources that I could use to gain some more familiarity with the technology and so that if I talk with some hardware vendors or support staff on the topic I'm not blow away with acronyms and various other technical garble.

Thanks!
 
It is not a simple undertaking to say the least. What I'm hearing is you want to do "toll bypass" and avoid long distance charges?
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Basically, yes. Bypass the long distance provider and minimize long distance fees. At this point, there isn't enough of a cost benefit to put it into the remote locations for long distance calls out, so it would just be in the corporate office for outbound calls. If I really wanted to do something like that, I'd just set up vonage and let them use that for long distance calls.

I'm just a one man army trying to provide as much IT support as I can to the company, and I will definitely have to bring in a consulting company of sort to help implement everything if we go that way. I just want to arm myself with as much info about the techlology as I can so I can wade through everything when they start asking questions and issuing out quotes.
 
Yeah, Spidey is correct. VoIP comes down to application. What are you trying to do? If all you are trying to do is lower LD costs on that small of a bill, you'll be spending A LOT more than that for the Cisco/Avaya/Nortel VoIP solution.

You're best bit is to get a good quote from a Telecom company than can handle the local service, LD service, and Internet at all your locations for a reduced cost. Some of which offer this as a VoIP solution.

I work at MCI/UUnet as a Technical Consultant. I could try to help you out based on any info you can give me regarding the way your business is set up. VoIP sounds like a really cool answer to a lot of problems, but, more often than not, it just causes more problems than it solves if a company jumps to it before they're ready.

 
Yeah, Spidey is correct. VoIP comes down to application. What are you trying to do? If all you are trying to do is lower LD costs on that small of a bill, you'll be spending A LOT more than that for the Cisco/Avaya/Nortel VoIP solution.
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Heh. I guess "small" is all a relative term. For us, $15,000 a year in long distance charges isn't a small amount.

Thank you though for the offer of assistance. I'm basically clueless on what options are available and what something like I would like to do costs hence my quest for information about it.

I didn't know if there was a formula or a guideline that you could use to see if bypassing the LD carrier with IP would be cost effective given what your current long distance charges are.
 
Telecom is fun because there's several hundred ways to skin the cat. Some quick possibilities:

Possibility #1) Just renegotiate your existing LD rate. If it's .07, get .06. Telecom companies are hurting right now. Price wars are ongoing. While this is the easiest route, it probably won't provide you with a whole lotta savings.

#2) Look into getting a T1 for your LD from a provider. This bypasses the Local Exchange Carrier so the LD provider doesn't have to pay origination fees; therefore, lowering your cost per minute. Switched LD rates are often around .05-.10. Dedicated LD T1 rates are often much below that (seen them down around .02). The problem with #2 is that you now have the additional cost of the T1 (which varies from $150-$400) to add to the LD cost. So, while your actual LD usage cost might go down, you now add the T1 cost to it. It might not save much. Or it could save hundreds.

#3) Use leverage to bring in all your sites under 1 contract with a provider that offers free LD calling between locations. Some exist. They're usually smaller phone companies, that really want your Local Phone Lines and could care less about long distance, so they toss it in for free (MCI does this).

#4) Re-evalute the way business is done. Now, this will take company-wide effort, but if you can figure out WHY these calls are taking place and see if there is some sort of replacement for these calls-- instant messaging, email, etc-- that will help minimize phone usage.

It would help to know where your main location is, where and how many remotes you have, how big those remotes are (employees, phone lines, etc), what kind of internet access they have, how many minutes a month corporate is calling outbound to those sites (and preferably, a breakdown of when/how long/where to/etc).

Just doing some initial guessing, you're probably around 15,000 to 20,000 minutes a month there at the corporate office. That's usually when I start looking into a dedicated T1 for LD. It could save around $3k-$5k for the year.

 
Couldn't you spring for a few Vonage business lines and link them to your PBX? You could just access those lines when dialing the other offices, should save a bundle. 🙂
 
Deadseasquirrel has probably given you all the information you want or need on this topic. A few years ago I actually configured and installed a VOIP network similar to what has been described, so I can't resist passing on this little caveat: When you have PBX's in multiple cities, and you link them via some type of VOIP, you have to be careful with your dial-plans. You have to avoid making the VOIP route available for a call that is not destined for your branch office, even if the dialed number is in the same area code and exchange as your branch office. Hope that makes sense.
 
my co. recently (1-1.5 yrs ago) went with voip. we currently have 15 locations of which possibly up to a half have the cisco stuff installed. approx 100-150 phones, i believe (dont have exact count). what i can tell you is that it cost us 150 grand, so for 10 years worth of your phone bills you could have the system, but by then its probably outdated and something newer is available. we don't have near the locations you do either so it will be more expensive.

in the beginning the cisco 7940's (2 line phone model) were running us almost 400 bucks a piece. i think its down near 200 now, but typical to most companies these days then they screw you and you have to have a license for the phone. no, its not enough you bought the servers, phones, routers etc. they gotta have an extra 100 bucks per phone for the license. the co. we went with (expanets) has been pretty good about getting back to us when we've had technical problems. although i'm a little disappointed in the pricing, and quality of sales service. i put in a order for a phone for a vip and it took them 2 WEEKS to get it to us. if theres one place you would expect companies to do good in is selling stuff. you expect to get screwed on the tech stuff, because theyre losing money having their techs talk to you or go onsite.

another prob was they didnt bother to include a backup for this $150,000 phone system. LOL! can you talk about poorly planned? you have to back up the voicemail and data servers seperately. the voicemail uses an exchange backup. we had software (arcserve 2000+exchange aware option+much other stuff) we asked them if it would work and they said yeah, but when we tried to roll it out, it caused the vm server to lock up. after a few attempts we gave up and asked them to send us "their" proven, compatible solution. im still waiting on management to approve the money now (ugh). it will probably never happen now. if it had been included, and financed in the original purchase price i might have it. management at my place is rather.. frugal. makes it hard for it to get stuff done right..but i digress.

if you have better luck with voip please let us know. so far my personal experience/opinion is that its very expensive. now if your co. does a lot of long distance calling it could really pan out. im not sure $1200 a month qualifies, tho. try checking with expanets, i believe they are a nationwide cisco voip co. i don't know if i'd actually GO with them, but at least you can get some info meeting with them or talking to them.

 
For a small office, minimum WAN infrastructure kinda place, I believe Avaya has a pretty decent, relatively inexpensive solution. It's pretty easy to implement (expecially compared to something like Cisco's VoIP solution), pretty easy to administer, and seems to be a pretty solid product.

They have a number of solutions-in-a-box that'll let you keep your digital phones locally (or use POTS phones, or use VoIP phones), and use VoIP through the WAN (with traditional TDM backup if the WAN link is too congested).

Their "in-a-box" solution includes servers for DHCP, DNS, RAS, basic voice mail (add a PC and their "plus" software for full-blown voice mail, or use your existing Exchange server for integrated messaging), literally, everything you need in a stackable box (add stack modules to expand the port count).

They have smaller boxes for smaller offices or home offices.

I'm a fairly hard sell for this stuff ... and I thought it was pretty decent, especially for the price points ... and you don't have to overhaul your existing infrastructure (doesn't hurt, but it's not a hard-core requirement).

I'm quite familiar with the Cisco solution, it's OK for larger installs or medium-to-large call centers. For a small office, it's way more expense and bother than necessary. I've also has some playtime with the Nortel stuff. Unless you are already up to your neck in Nortel PBXs, ignore it.

Another option you may want to investigate is VoIP Centrex services that some Telcos are offering. Many advantages, a couple drawbacks, usually some cost savings.

Good Luck

Scott
 
You guys are great. If there was a way to send beers over IP I'd do that for each of you :beer:

To kind of give you an idea of how our company is laid out I'll try and describe it as easy as possible -

1) Main corporate office based out of Cedar Rapids, IA. Approximately 20 corporate users. 5 lines coming into the office and run through a Samsung Prostar DCS Key System. All phones are a 24 button Prostar unit from Samsung.

2) Remote break down as the following
- Small 5 user branch office in Omaha, NE (cox cable internet connection, seimens switched system for phones)
- 2 retail locations in Omaha ( 2 voice lines, 3 data lines for various uses, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 1 retail location in Des Moines, IA ( 2 voice lines, 3 data lines for various uses, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 1 retail location in Sioux Falls, SD ( 2 voice lines, 3 data lines for various uses, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 1 retail location in Fargo, ND ( 2 voice lines, 3 data lines for various uses, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 1 retail location in Cedar Rapids, IA ( 2 voice lines, 3 data lines for various uses, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 1 retail location in Davenport, IA ( 2 voice lines, 3 data lines for various uses, 192k DSL connection for internet)

- 3 retail locations in Cedar Rapids, IA ( 2 voice lines, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 3 retail locations in or near Iowa City, IA ( 2 voice lines, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 2 retail locations in Dubuque, IA ( 2 voice lines, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 6 retail locations in Madison, WI ( 2 voice lines, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 2 retail locations in Cedar Falls, IA ( 2 voice lines, 192k DSL connection for internet)
- 2 retail locations in BFE one off of I-80 in IA and the other off of I-90 in WI ( 2 voice lines, 192k DSL connection for internet)

- 1 retail location in Tucson, AZ ( 3 voice lines, 384k DSL connection for internet)
- 1 branch office in Pheonix, AZ 1 user for now(1 voice, 1 data, cable internet)

And we plan to add retail locations in
- El Paso, TX
- Albequerque, NM
- Santa Fe, NM
- Las Vegas
- Yuma, AZ
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Right now, retail locations are pushing about $40-$50 a month in LD calls to the corporate office. Contracts have been renegotiated down to $.07 a minute for LD.

Corporate office has no rhyme or reason to the outbound calls. There are hundreds of short calls to the various retail locations to check on invoices or follow up on a payroll issure that just could have easily be done through email...but that's a whole nuther thread. But then, there are 30+ minute long phone calls to attourneys, real estate people, vendors, out of state cell phones, ect that really drive up the cost.

We don't have an 800 number coming into the corporate office so we aren't paying for other people to call us. So that eliminates that part of the equation. I'm going to start looking over the various systems that avaya has see if there are any local providers in my area to set up an informational meeting with.

Once again guys, thanks for all your help.
 
Once again, based on your location list and requirements, I'd suggest the Avaya. Give 'em a call, visit their site, or call a good nationwide vendor.

You don't mention a budget, or discuss the staff available to support the effort. given that there WILL be movement towards VoIP or IP Trunking in your organization, I'll stand by my recommendation. The nice thing about the Avaya box is that it allows for phased implementation (it's not an "all or nothing" system).

Good Luck, Happy New Year!

Scott
 
Yeah, that's why I asked about the locations and size and all... based on the fact that you have a key system at the main location, I don't recommend going the T1 for LD route. While it would lower your LD bill and save you some money, you would most likely need to upgrade that system so that it could take a digital T1, completely hosing your cost savings.

And, the fact that you're in the middle of IA and the surrounding areas makes it difficult to find a good CLEC capable of taking over your local phone service and giving you free LD between your locations. MCI does this but can't in IA, WI, NE, etc. Other companies to look for are Allegiance Telecom, XO Communcations, and others... but I don't think they service those areas and many of the CLECs you will find are having a very difficult time staying in business.

So, you best bet is simply getting that LD rate as low as possible, forcing employees to use alternate means of communication that are FREE like email or Instant Messaging, and looking into a future path to migrate to like VoIP, as long as it can be done in a baby-step process that utilizes your existing phone equipment and so forth, so you don't drop $100k in equipment.

 
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